In 1989, the two of us, Rick
Tejada-Flores and Ray Telles-both filmmakers and old friends-came together
with a shared set of concerns about telling stories on television that weren't
being told. One of the most important stories, and one of the most neglected,
was that of Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers' movement. Although neither
one of us came from the fields, we found that in many ways, the farmworkers'
struggle had shaped who we were and how we viewed the world.

Ray Telles's deep interest in the farmworkers' movement
was rooted in his family: "My father and uncle, both electricians,
went to Delano to help out in the early days of the union. As a college
student I became involved in the Chicano movement and, like many, I came
to recognize Cesar as a major force in determining its direction. Later,
as a journalist covering the farmworkers, I was able to draw on this background
to do stories that were both close to home and very important to my family.
When I made films on the toll exacted on farmworkers by pesticides or on
the UFW's battles with a hostile state government, the specific problems
were new, but the stories were all too familiar."

Rick Tejada-Flores worked as a volunteer for the UFW, taking
pictures for the union and later creating the union's first documentary
film. "Those two years with the union were a defining experience in
my life. Like so many people who came into contact with Chavez and the farmworkers,
I was indelibly changed by the process. Although it was the start of my
work as a filmmaker, the real lessons that I learned were about how society
works and how it can be changed."

The UFW's story, which had touched both of our lives so
profoundly, is the story of how ordinary people can become extraordinary,
how the powerless can exert influence, and how the voiceless can be heard.

Cesar Chavez was the most important Latino leader this
country has ever seen. Part of his greatness was that his vision reached
out to touch millions of Americans-not just Mexican Americans, but ordinary
people of all sorts. The connection that the farmworkers forged between
the haves and the have-nots created a remarkable moment in American history-an
era in which people who would not normally meet connected and worked together
to correct terrible injustices.

The film and the book are an attempt to capture the intensity
and focus of this remarkable movement and to help people learn its powerful
lessons. With the death of Cesar Chavez in 1993, there is an urgency to
preserve these memories while they are still fresh-but not because Chavez's
death was the end of the story. The farmworkers movement is flourishing
today, and all across the country there has been an outpouring of honors
for the man who inspired it. But unless people remember what Cesar Chavez
believed in and dedicated his life to, this belated respect will be an empty
gesture.